[allAfrica.com] [celtel.com] Kano Riot And Needless Invective Daily Champion (Lagos) OPINION June 24, 2004 Posted to the web June 24, 2004 By Oliver Okpala Lagos I READ with profundity of thought and disgust the letter written to the Governor of Ebonyi State, Dr Sam Ominyi Egwu, by the Governor of Kano State, Alhaji Ibrahim Shekarau. The said letter was published in the Daily Sun of Friday, June 4, 2004. In the letter captioned Shekarau Tackles Egwu, mind your words which is supposed to carry the honour and dignity of a classified document, being a written document from one Chief Executive to the other on national sensitive issues involving security matters. Governor Shekarau expressed his aversion to Dr Egwu's conclusion that the Kano riots and carnage meant that the Governor of Kano State had abdicated his responsibility. In a needless attempt to pour invective on Dr Egwu, Alhaji Shekarau sought to trivialise the events in Kano. Besides, Governor Shekarau's unfounded allegation that Dr Egwu did not obtain his own side of the story about the Kano incident before addressing a press conference is neither here nor there. The comments of Dr Egwu on the Kano riots, if they were made, clearly represent the situation on the ground. As the Chief Executive of his State, Alhaji Shekarau is, ipso facto, the chief security officer of his State. In all matters affecting the State the buck stops at his desk. Anybody or person who wishes to be the chief executive of a state must be mentally, physically and psychologically prepared for the heavy burden thrust upon him by that exalted office. It is not enough to indulge and wallow in revelry on account of being the Governor of a State. There is no gainsaying the fact that privilege entails responsibility. There is no doubt that Governor Shekarau should be blamed for the disgusting breakdown of law and order in Kano. To suggest this is to state the obvious. And Alhaji Shekarau had better appreciate that he could not be absolved from blame for the mayhem and chilling blood-letting in Kano. Even if he had made efforts before, during and after the mayhem to contain the situation, the enormity of carnage and wanton destruction of property during the riots betrayed the fact that his efforts were simply not good enough. Yet, as the Chief Security Officer of the State, he is in control of all the necessary and needed machinery of government to nip any security breach in the bud. Indeed, he has the facilities and the logistics in place to prevent and/or detect any threatened breach or actual breach of security before the situation gets out of hand. The fact that Shekarau allowed the carnage in Kano to be perpetrated and unleashed in such brazen and egregious proportion makes him culpable in the court of public opinion. It shows that he had failed woefully in the discharge of his duty as the Chief Security Officer of Kano. In civilized societies Shekarau ought to have thrown in the towel by resigning his position. Therefore, anybody who surmises that Shekarau abdicated his responsibility in Kano cannot but be correct. It would be recalled that whilst declaring a state of emergency in Plateau State, the President indicted Shekarau and warned him to be careful of the unfolding events in Kano. Shekarau should carry the Kano cross. He cannot escape it by shouting himself hoarse. It is no media blackmail to state that the Kano riots are a dent on Shekarau's reputation as an administrator and chief executive. In consequence, Shekarau's invective on Dr Egwu is unfounded, baseless, frivolous and naive. Shekarau must appreciate that citizens of other states in Nigeria have felt offended or aggrieved by one thing or the other in the polity. But they have never gone to the extent of killing non-indigenes or embarking on wanton and heartless destruction of the hard-earned investment of their compatriots. Human life is sacred. Human life is no trifle. So, it must not be trifled with. The death of any man is sad. And it is moreso where such a man was murdered in cold blood. Kano has come to assume a notoriety as the hotbed of riots, mayhem, destruction of property and carnage. Its chief executive must, therefore, be on the guard at all times. And Kano people must appreciate that their kith and kin live in other parts of the country where they are non-indigenes. It behoves Shekarau to educate his people, to enlighten them and to persuade them to drop the toga of violence for which they are now associated with across the length and breadth of the country. In point of fact, Governor Egwu has worked assiduously to ensure peaceful and harmonious co-existence and relationship among the different peoples of Nigeria in Ebonyi State. He has ensured that lives and property are protected in his state. These are records for which Dr Egwu should justifiably be proud. And he has no apologies to offer to Shekarau for having no such record. Dr Egwu has been in the saddle of the Chief Executive in Ebonyi State for well over five years. Within this period, he had distinguished himself nationally and internationally. He has been honoured in Nigeria and beyond for spectacular performance and worthy achievements as a Governor. Under normal circumstances, Egwu should be a role model for Shekarau who is barely a toddler as a governor having been in office for only twelve months, or should induction course be organised for new governors? Shekarau has no justification to attack Egwu. Both of them do not operate at the same wavelength in the Nigerian political waters. Egwu has built up a reputation as a serious-minded politician, an achiever, a man with a mission in governance and above all, a statesman and nationalist. He cannot descend to the level of political neophytes whose visions are often blurred by tribal sentiments instead of higher national ideas which should move this country forward. Therefore, if Egwu spoke out against the Kano riots, he had committed no crime. And he has the right to condemn the killings in Kano publicly. He has no apologies to offer to anybody for not discussing the matter in camera. It is in the character of a patriot, a nationalist and a statesman to speak out on issues of national concern and to call a spade a spade. Egwu's political height and level in Nigeria is such that he cannot call a kettle a pot just to please some half-baked politicians. If Egwu said many unprintable things against Shekarau and his State during the press conference, so be it. Shekarau deserves all the tongue-lashing and criticism for the Kano riots. The only way he can avoid such public condemnation in future is by sitting up as a Governor from now onwards or by tendering his resignation letter. Nobody needs any enlightenment from Shekarau on what happened and/or what he did or did not do during the riots. On the contrary, it is Shekarau who needs public enlightenment. To suggest, as did Shekarau, that Governor Egwu got his information on the Kano riots from motor park touts is to descend to the lowest depth of gutter language. Public officers should be circumspect in the choice of their language. Any wonder, then, why such public officers who speak carelessly are associated with violence for, as the Bible puts it, as a man thinketh so he speaketh. Shekarau does not need the full compliment of a courtroom and officials for him to state his own side of the case in the Kano riots. Let him go and mark it down somewhere: he is already condemned in the court of public opinion. The issue of fair hearing does not arise at all. Fair hearing to Shekarau will not bring back to life hundreds of innocent non-indigenes who were slaughtered in Kano in the most brazen fashion and in the worst barbaric manner. Fair hearing to Shekarau will not provide shelter for thousands of families who have been displaced. It will not provide the means of livelihood for those who lost their investments. Yet, there is supposed to be a Governor - charged, inter alia, with security - in Kano. And Shekarau is at the head of that Government. Fair hearing may be an ingredient of democracy. But so also is security. And security is the foremost aspect of democracy for a dead man does not know what democracy is all about. Shekarau can only govern people who are alive and not those who are dead. Living persons elected Shekarau as the Kano Governor. Dead persons did not choose him as Governor over Kwankwaso. The right to life and property is guaranteed in any democracy. Shekarau gloats that there have been violent crises in other parts of the country from 1999 till date. This is unfortunate. His grouse is that he was associated with or accused of perpetrating the Kano riots. No accusation levelled against Shekarau in the aftermath of the killings in Kano is unjustifiable. Shekarau should emulate Governor Egwu who has performed excellently well as a Governor. Governor Egwu's track-record speaks for him. His character is unimpeachable and his records are impeccable. It is a credit to Dr Egwu that he spoke out clearly and distinctly when others were murmuring. Shekarau should know that Egwu loves him and that was why he aired his views on the Kano incident without fear or favour, affection or ill-will. It is irrelevant that Dr. Egwu expressed his views in public. In fact, it is commendable that he did so, instead of phoning Shekarau or sending a powerful delegation to Kano as some Governors did for an open rebuke is better than a treacherous embrace. Shekarau should mind his business in Kano. He should know where his problems lie. Governor Egwu, the golden Governor of the South East, should not be brought into the fray just because he spoke the truth. In his criticism of the Kano mayhem, Egwu carries along with him other well- meaning Nigerians. The easiest way to annoy a Nigerian is to tell him the truth and the easiest way to lead a Governor astray is to hide the truth from him. Shekarau's invective on Egwu is needless.   ===============================================================================  Copyright © 2004 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). ===============================================================================